


of all the broken people

by eggcelsior



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Therapy, i cant tag either, i cant vouch for the quality of this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 13:57:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16409753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggcelsior/pseuds/eggcelsior
Summary: Bee gives Andrew homework for the first time. Its just one question, but it makes him think about everyone that he has come to trust:What am I to others?





	of all the broken people

Andrew had had plans for that Sunday. Granted they weren’t all encompassing plans; mostly they consisted of eating tooth-rotting sweets, playing video games and lounging around the apartment. But obviously Bee had other plans.

The task she had given him seemed harmless at first. During her weekly visit, Betsy had pushed the conversation onto the topic of belonging. You belong to so much, she had said, but you still don’t feel like you deserve it. when Andrew had just stared at her, she had just sipped at her hot chocolate and pushed a piece of paper across the counter.

_What am I to others?_

I want you to answer the question, she had said. Andrew raised a silent eyebrow. Bee was a unique person. The kind who put plastic flowers in vases, bought second-hand skirts and kept empty hot chocolate tubs. But she didn’t give homework.

As if reading his mind, the shrink had nodded. Do this for me, she had asked. Then she had produced another identical sheet. The only difference was this piece of paper and more of the same neat, precise handwriting spilling down the page.

_Therapist_

_Friend_

_Colleague_

_Sister_

The list continued, but Andrew didn’t read further. He understood. Betsy didn’t try to hide the smile that gathered on her face when Andrew took the paper.

Andrew wasn’t sure how long he had been staring at the paper. His reluctance to start writing was purely stubbornness. Writing this down meant he was admitting it and it was _out there_. It was physical evidence. He could burn it if he really wanted to, but he knew he wouldn’t. Bee knew it as well. The glint her eyes when she had placed her empty mug on the kitchen sink gave her away.

He stopped staring at the bite marks on his pen – were those his teeth or Neil’s that did that? – and placed the nib to the paper.

_Sparring partner_

Andrew wasn’t sure if that was the first one he wanted to write down, but Andrew was closer to Renee than he’d ever admit out loud. Both had spent countless nights with the other, throwing jabs at different parts of the body. Those nights they had spent together were sometimes the only thing that had anchored him when he was on medication.  Knives or not, they would dance back and forth until Andrew could feel exhaustion tugging at his back muscles.

Sometimes, when Renee and Allison let themselves into the apartment, they would repeat that college routine. Neil would go shopping with Allison and Andrew would walk to the abandoned car park across the road with Renee and they would spar. sometimes they would talk about Allison’s current TV obsession and Neil’s newfound love of science fiction. Sometimes they wouldn’t talk at all.

Andrew shifted in his chair and hesitated slightly before writing the next word.

_Twin_

Andrew couldn’t write brother. That word held some weight to it. It meant more than broken promises made in college. There was an unspoken connection that would link Andrew to Aaron Minyard if he wrote that down. And that was the kind of connection that they didn’t have. The two of them had a better relationship now than they had had in years. Mostly it consisted of one-word texts and mutual likes on Instagram posts, but they both knew they were getting better. They weren’t at _brother_ yet but maybe someday.

After that, the words came spilling out onto the page more easily. Compared to Bees handwriting, Andrews was a mess, but he was sure that it was more to do with his itching need to be done with this.

_Patient_

Andrew didn’t like describing himself as that. It made him sound like he was broken, something to fix. But he knew it would make Bee happy and that made him a little less reluctant, although he would never admit that out loud.

_Cousin_

Energetic. Oblivious. Stupid. Sometimes he was the stoic opposite of Aaron. Every now and then Nicky would surprise Andrew. Like when he had spent the first few weeks after Andrew and Neil had moved driving the six hours round trip weekly just to talk at them. He counted as family. Aside from Aaron, he was the closest thing to a Minyard that Andrew had got.

_Protection_

Old habits die hard. Andrew would rather sing karaoke with Nicky than admit that Kevin was his friend. They were both keeping their promises like they had at Palmetto, so _protection_ it was.

_Monster_

_Exy player_

_Goalkeeper_

_Fox_

Did putting Exy player and goalkeeper separately count as cheating? Andrew didn’t really care, although Bee might. He was surprised at how much he had written so far.

Andrew sat back and looked at his list. There was only one other person that he could think of that mattered. Andrew started to write but found himself stopping. He wasn’t sure there was a word that did their relationship justice. It was more of a long-term deal that let them be completely honest with each other. The kisses were just an added bonus.

Your starting to sound like him, Andrew thought. But his chest hummed pleasantly anyway, when he wrote the word _partner._

 

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't figured out how to link stuff yet but if you wanna check out my tumblr its egg-celsior


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